The number not being on their site is a *major* annoyance. My wife had a problem with her Paypal account about six months ago where they froze it for what turned out to be an unbelievably stupid reason. (She had typed in our address in the form 123 Main St. Apt. 23, and the bank had us as 123 MAIN ST #23-- their computer didn't realize this was the same address and thought we were trying to defraud someone) It took us three hours to dig up the number, and they were thoroughly unhelpful when we did-- in the end, she opened up another account rather than deal with them attempting to correct the broken one. Luckily we didn't lose any money in the process.
In addition to the CP/M boards you could buy for an Atari 800 (XL, etc.), there was also a really great 3rd party disc drive (which could store a whole 180K per disc!) called the Indus GT. Which used a Z80 as a controller.
That citizens of the US get two shots at opposing this treaty. Under Constitutional law, you need a *2/3* majority in the Senate to pass a treaty. (Such basic bits of International Law as the 1965 Vienna Convention on Treaties, which defines standards for, well, treaties, have never been passed by the US Senate) It's hard to get 2/3 of the Senate to agree on anything, including Evil Nefarious Hackers.
We also get a second shot, since this treaty requires enabling legislation to operate. (ie, in legalese, it's not self-executing) Let's get organized, people. Call (and I guess email, since written letters are being ignored because of the anthrax attacks) your Senators (to start with), and if that doesn't work, call your congresspeople.
-APC
(IANALY, but am about six weeks away from a post-grad degree in International Law prior to taking the bar)
The very fact that MS itself is running such auctions (even as part of a partnership agreement) and yet attempting to shut them down on Ebay may itself be an antitrust violation. If I were the DoJ or FTC, I'd take a real close look at this-- in antitrust terms, it's called a horizontal restraint of trade, and is about as automatic an antitrust violation as you can get. (Note: I'm a third year law student who has taken antitrust. Take it for what it's worth. YMMV.) Due process and innocent until proven guilty don't apply to private persons (incl. corporations like MS). However, this is about as blatant a restraint of trade as I can think of. Incidentally, if anyone feels like suing them for yanking an item, keep in mind that in antitrust law, private damages are tripled, and if this policy is revealed in a court which finds them liable, the principle of res judicata dictates that anyone else who can prove that MS screwed them in the same way pretty much automatically wins. One bee may not be able to bring down a bear, but a whole nest of 'em...
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The number not being on their site is a *major* annoyance. My wife had a problem with her Paypal account about six months ago where they froze it for what turned out to be an unbelievably stupid reason. (She had typed in our address in the form 123 Main St. Apt. 23, and the bank had us as 123 MAIN ST #23-- their computer didn't realize this was the same address and thought we were trying to defraud someone) It took us three hours to dig up the number, and they were thoroughly unhelpful when we did-- in the end, she opened up another account rather than deal with them attempting to correct the broken one. Luckily we didn't lose any money in the process.
In addition to the CP/M boards you could buy for an Atari 800 (XL, etc.), there was also a really great 3rd party disc drive (which could store a whole 180K per disc!) called the Indus GT. Which used a Z80 as a controller.
That citizens of the US get two shots at opposing this treaty. Under Constitutional law, you need a *2/3* majority in the Senate to pass a treaty. (Such basic bits of International Law as the 1965 Vienna Convention on Treaties, which defines standards for, well, treaties, have never been passed by the US Senate) It's hard to get 2/3 of the Senate to agree on anything, including Evil Nefarious Hackers.
We also get a second shot, since this treaty requires enabling legislation to operate. (ie, in legalese, it's not self-executing) Let's get organized, people. Call (and I guess email, since written letters are being ignored because of the anthrax attacks) your Senators (to start with), and if that doesn't work, call your congresspeople.
-APC
(IANALY, but am about six weeks away from a post-grad degree in International Law prior to taking the bar)
The very fact that MS itself is running such auctions (even as part of a partnership agreement) and yet attempting to shut them down on Ebay may itself be an antitrust violation. If I were the DoJ or FTC, I'd take a real close look at this-- in antitrust terms, it's called a horizontal restraint of trade, and is about as automatic an antitrust violation as you can get. (Note: I'm a third year law student who has taken antitrust. Take it for what it's worth. YMMV.) Due process and innocent until proven guilty don't apply to private persons (incl. corporations like MS). However, this is about as blatant a restraint of trade as I can think of. Incidentally, if anyone feels like suing them for yanking an item, keep in mind that in antitrust law, private damages are tripled, and if this policy is revealed in a court which finds them liable, the principle of res judicata dictates that anyone else who can prove that MS screwed them in the same way pretty much automatically wins. One bee may not be able to bring down a bear, but a whole nest of 'em...